Escalators - why won't people walk???!!! and why do poeple drive their kid to school?

paulm17781

Pram wielding people on escalators scare me. I try to stay as far back as possible from them, same with kids and the elderly. The folks who stop at the top / bottom to have a think about what to do next are worse, I've nearly been in several accidents because of them.

Sam Kade

Calina wrote: »

Please grow up. Sometimes I wear high heels, sometime I don't. I realise that on the internet thing it may be a naive assumption but it's unlikely you know how to wear them. I do and I will generally not walk up or down escalators when I am wearing them. Since quite a few of the men around me appreciate the high heels, and I don't block escalators, I don't get what your problem is.

As for the kids - I don't have any but it's not your place to comment on my parenting.

a) If their school is on my way to work and my work is not within walking distance then it is more time efficient for me to drop them to school on the way to work than it is to walk to school with them and then go back and get the car. Work may not - and in this city frequently is not - easily accessible by public transport.

b) A little wind and rain and snow and hailstones can be rather nasty if the walk is more than 5 minutes. For the vast majority of people in this city, the walk to school is often more than five minutes

c) When I do this depends on what age they are. I'm reluctant to fling them out into the great nothing at the age of 4 and 5 if you don't mind. Also please note that not everyone lives in happy urban Dublin in the best of worlds. There may not be pavements, there may not be loads of other kids and parents and there may not be rush hour traffic. There may, however, be large trucks from which toddlers are hard to see.

d) not everyone has access to public transport and not everyone is close enough to walk to school.

e) It might not be an option for other practical details involved trying to balance the fact that some people have jobs too.

f) if you think that only bad parents have kids who skip school you are very, very naive.

___________________

Sam Kade, please note that I don't like banning or infracting people for upsetting the atmosphere of discussion. This does not mean I won't do it. Consider it a last warning.

Nasty

de breeze

There's a barge restaurant permanently parked in the middle of the canal at Mespil road so no boats can get by. Wouldn't happen in England either....:D

corktina

therecklessone wrote: »

Another peculiarly Irish event is the "stop at the top for a chat or a good look round" which is always a good idea when you're being followed by a pram-wielding person on their way up the travelator in the Blanch SC...:rolleyes:

a bit off-topic I know but Irish People also have a habit of stopping for a look around when exiting a shop.......or stopping for a chat there....

Corruptedmorals

Not everyone in a shopping centres are there to shop..people who work need to leg it up/down the escalators, as breaks are pretty short. I'm mainly talking about Stephens green, which is so weirdly set out that stairs aren't exactly an option from the far side.

LFCFan

When in Athens last year I noticed that 99% of the time on escalators going in and out of the metro, EVERYONE stood to the left on escalators whether they were walking or not so people could get past. There were 2 occassions when the escalators were blocked. Both times it was Irish people. Common courtest unfortunatly is not the norm in this country.

tomcollins97

Calina wrote: »

Please grow up. Sometimes I wear high heels, sometime I don't. I realise that on the internet thing it may be a naive assumption but it's unlikely you know how to wear them. I do and I will generally not walk up or down escalators when I am wearing them. Since quite a few of the men around me appreciate the high heels, and I don't block escalators, I don't get what your problem is. .

So you wear heels to pull men even though they make you disoriented - strange!

Calina wrote: »

As for the kids - I don't have any but it's not your place to comment on my parenting. .

This is a discussion board - I think the point is to comment?

Calina wrote: »

a) If their school is on my way to work and my work is not within walking distance then it is more time efficient for me to drop them to school on the way to work than it is to walk to school with them and then go back and get the car. Work may not - and in this city frequently is not - easily accessible by public transport.

Most areas of the city are accesible - people drive for the convenience

Calina wrote: »

b) A little wind and rain and snow and hailstones can be rather nasty if the walk is more than 5 minutes. For the vast majority of people in this city, the walk to school is often more than five minutes

Whats wrong with the walk being more than 5 mins? Any walk to school up to half an hour is very reasonable, for a young healthy child.

Calina wrote: »

c) When I do this depends on what age they are. I'm reluctant to fling them out into the great nothing at the age of 4 and 5. There may, however, be large trucks from which toddlers are hard to see.

I never mentioned kids that young walking on their own - that would be pretty stupid.

Calina wrote: »

Also please note that not everyone lives in happy urban Dublin in the best of worlds. There may not be pavements,

Most places outside 'happy' Dublin have school buses.

Calina wrote: »

d) not everyone has access to public transport and not everyone is close enough to walk to school.

I never said I thought children should run a marathon to get to school. I was thinking of schools on bus routes, dart routes. Schools in local communities where most children come from the local catchment area & by defination this area tends not to be a very widespread area. I was never referring to children who walk to school through the fields.

Calina wrote: »

e) It might not be an option for other practical details involved trying to balance the fact that some people have jobs too.

Once the children are old enough to make their own way this is not an issue.

Calina wrote: »

f) if you think that only bad parents have kids who skip school you are very, very naive.

No I am not. If you are a good parent you child will attend school, be disciplined & have values. They will not skip school as they know they face the wrath of their parents if they do!

de breeze

Has there been any discussion here on the need to stagger school opening hours? Around Dublin that are hundreds of schools/colleges all starting classes between 8.30-9.00. if the bigger schools and colleges were required to start at 8.00 there would be better peak spreading both for cars and public transport. Someone mentioned to me that Mary's in Rathmines are in a minority of one by starting at 8.00.

Maybe I should post this on Bebo??

Calina

de breeze wrote: »

Has there been any discussion here on the need to stagger school opening hours? Around Dublin that are hundreds of schools/colleges all starting classes between 8.30-9.00. if the bigger schools and colleges were required to start at 8.00 there would be better peak spreading both for cars and public transport. Someone mentioned to me that Mary's in Rathmines are in a minority of one by starting at 8.00.

Maybe I should post this on Bebo??

On this, I think the issue also relates to how you integrate that with parental working hours. It's not always appropriate to leave kids to get to school on their own steam for various reasons and of course, there's also the question of what time they would finish then.

I used to work in a couple of secondary schools in France. They typically started at 8 every morning.

@Tom it is clear to me you have monovision on the subject. Where I live - in DUblin - there are monumental problems getting secondary school places for kids because the schools are over subscribed. This tends to have a knock on effect in terms of where schools can be relative to where the kids live and as such transport can be harder.

Also, school buses only apply in rural areas dependent on distance. I wasn't entitled to school bus transport growing up and I had to be driven to school or cycle (when I got older) because there was no safe walking path between my parents' house and the school, distance one mile. I know other people who had similar issues who lived further away again.

The point is it's very easy to come on a board and say "parents should do this that and ten other things" and effectively generalise and then say "oh but I didn't mean the parents who weren't on school bus routes, routes served by reliable city traffic, kids who live in rural parts of the country which arenot so well served. When the convenience factor is one hour on public transport versus 20 minutes driving then it's not up to you to make a call on any body else's time. This is a general observation not solely linked to getting kids to school, incidentally.

I'll also close by saying that in fact, kids have personalities of their own; and it is all too easy to accuse the parents when kids decide to do things their own way. So I think you're wrong to suggest that mitching implies that kids have bad parents. It is not that simple.

In other words, I'm pointing out that while it is desirable for things to be one way, there are myriad reasons why they very often are not.

As for the high heels, I still don't get the problem. If I'm not blocking the route, what is your issue? I have lived in Paris and London and it's generally the way that you stand one side and run/walk the other side if you are in that hurry. I don't wear them to just pull, by the way; I wear them to look attractive and there is a subtle difference. Wanting to look good doesn't automatically imply I'm on the pull.

daisy123

mrsdewinter wrote: »

Think it's a cultural thing - like not clearing the table after ya at McDonald's when the rest of the western world manages it...

I purposely do not clear my table in McDonalds, due to the fact that this is rationalisation on the part of McDonalds, you bring your food to the table, you eat, you move on, NEXT... if we clear our tables, McDonalds can employ less staff, does anyone remember when car parks would have people at the booths to pay instead of the machines? Those people(usually women) lost their jobs.
This cannot be compared to using an escalator or driving the kids to school.

I agree with the thoughts of driving kids the 5 minutes to school, not only is it lazy, it causes traffic congestion, and is bad for the environment. It fosters the idea in the children that it is ok to drive everywhere regardless of distance/public transport available. Soon we will be like America, with people driving to the next door neighbour! Standing on a escalator is sometimes neccessary, elderly people, people with leg problems, arthritis etc that make climbing stairs painful,people with bags that they cannot lift, etc etc etc. Standing on BOTH sides, or indeed in the MIDDLE of the escalator is however unnessecary! Bring on the signs...

daisy123

Re driving kids to school, in Dublin there can be an excuse for it. My cousin lives in Ballyfermot and goes to school in Drimnagh. When he started there he used to take the 18 out to school. But on several occasions the bus simply didn't run and Donnybrook garage refused to believe this... "he didn't put out his hand to hail the bus." What, him and the 10 other people at the same stop? So now he's driven to school because its the only way to guarantee he'll be there on time. Public transport in Ireland is a joke.

daisy123 wrote: »

Soon we will be like America, with people driving to the next door neighbour!

I saw someone in Kerry doing this 10 years ago!

Pherekydes

Amusing thread. More suited to AH. My daughter drove to the hairdressers the other day, a walk of 2 and a half minutes. I know, because I've timed it. Well, maybe it's longer for her. The same night she was getting ready to go out and she had her latest outfit on and she came down to see if her mother liked it, then she got huffy and said "I feel like a fat pig in this" and went off to put a pair of jeans on. :D Later still, she says, "I am so going to get liposuction." :rolleyes:

I have to bite my tongue:

Why don't you exercise, you fat pig?

corktina

sorry slow coach but your daughter may have had sound (female) common sense in driving to the hair dressers,,,,if it was raining or likely too, it could ruin her hair-do walking back and they charge the earth.....you do give the clue with the "later that same night " bit....:D (I got three daughters and a wife so I KNOW these things....:cool:

Pherekydes

corktina wrote: »

sorry slow coach but your daughter may have had sound (female) common sense in driving to the hair dressers,,,,if it was raining or likely too, it could ruin her hair-do walking back and they charge the earth.....you do give the clue with the "later that same night " bit....:D (I got three daughters and a wife so I KNOW these things....:cool:

It was a gorgeous night (for this time of year). She's a lazy sow. End of. She lived abroad for a year, and ate and drank like one of them; she walked everywhere, and the weight fell off. She looked and felt healthier and fitter. She had more energy. Then she came home. Started eating and drinking like the Irish again. Binge drinking at the weekends, instead of one or two glasses of wine with her meals. Wouldn't walk to the end of the driveway to get in her car without complaining. Has NO energy. Is lethargic all the time. But despite her college education, she can't seem to join the dots up:

Exercise + good food + moderate drink = more energy + less weight

Sam Kade

Slow coach wrote: »

It was a gorgeous night (for this time of year). She's a lazy sow. End of. She lived abroad for a year, and ate and drank like one of them; she walked everywhere, and the weight fell off. She looked and felt healthier and fitter. She had more energy. Then she came home. Started eating and drinking like the Irish again. Binge drinking at the weekends, instead of one or two glasses of wine with her meals. Wouldn't walk to the end of the driveway to get in her car without complaining. Has NO energy. Is lethargic all the time. But despite her college education, she can't seem to join the dots up:

Exercise + good food + moderate drink = more energy + less weight

So she's slow and lazy. Yes she's her fathers daughter all right.

Calina

This thread is wandering off topic to a certain amount of judgmentalism about other people's lifestyle choices.

So in summary, there are reasons why some people don't walk on escalators and there are some reasons why people drive their kids to school. Either talk about them or see a thread closure, more infractions and up as far as bans.

paulm17781

daisy123 wrote: »

I purposely do not clear my table in McDonalds, due to the fact that this is rationalisation on the part of McDonalds, you bring your food to the table, you eat, you move on, NEXT... if we clear our tables, McDonalds can employ less staff, does anyone remember when car parks would have people at the booths to pay instead of the machines? Those people(usually women) lost their jobs.

So it's your fault McDonalds has gotten so expensive?

I don't mean to have a go at you but the logic of "Not clearing table, create jobs" is the same as 'Not clearing table, people needed to clean it, prices go up to pay for additional staff'.

Calina

Thread closed.